TY - JOUR

AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore how a national policy on

sickness absence management is translated by HR managers into local human resource
management (HRM) practices by developing and applying an analytical framework with
three dimensions: individual preferences, strategic reframing, and local
grounding.Design/methodology/approach– The paper is based on policy documents and
interviews with HR managers in Dutch law firms. The theoretical scope is the debate
on HRM and institutional contexts.Findings– The paper uncovers a variety of
individual preferences among HR managers' interpretations of the national policy.
However, in strategically reframing the policy, the organizations act upon it from
a mainly “managerialist” perspective: they focus on reducing absence through
increased control of employees, rather than reforming organizational practices that
may adversely affect the health of workers. The local groundings reinforce unequal
power relations between different categories of employees: HR managers/line
managers; professionals/administrative personnel; men/women. The paper contributes
to the understanding of how changes in institutional contexts are translated into
organizations and the role of HR managers within this process.Research
limitations/implications– The paper explores the translation process in a
particular setting. It would be fruitful to broaden the scope to other
institutional contexts and organizations and to include a diverse range of actors
to develop additional knowledge of the interaction in the translation
process.Originality/value– The paper develops both empirical and theoretical
conclusions on the translation, that is, the sense making of HRM in an uncertain
environment of changing national institutions.
VL - 38
IS - 5
SN - 0048-3486
DO - 10.1108/00483480910978045
UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480910978045
AU - van Gestel Nicolette
AU - Nyberg Daniel
ED - Paul Boselie
ED - Chris Brewster
ED - Jaap Paauwe
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009/01/01
TI - Translating national policy changes into local HRM practices
T2 - Personnel Review
PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP - 544
EP - 559
Y2 - 2020/06/03
ER -